7 books everyone should read, according to Dean Koontz

As part of the Register Book Club, we ask writers and other interesting folk with whom we talk to offer their picks for seven books everyone should read. In no particular order, here are Koontz's picks and his comments.

"Intellectuals" by Paul Johnson. The British historian tells the horrific and darkly funny personal stories of a dozen famous intellectuals, making the case that such people should never be in positions of power.

"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. A hugely entertaining novel that explores the human toll when bad ideas and envy inspire the madness of crowds.

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury. A little stylistic masterpiece, a joyful celebration of the human spirit and of the English language.

"The Colors of the Mountain" and "The Sounds of the River" by Da Chen. I'll count these two memoirs as one. Born in Mao's China and raised in cruel times, the author has an exuberant spirit that makes his story a beautiful and inspiring read.

"The Complete Stories" by Flannery O'Connor. Sometimes grotesque and always profound stories about the perpetual battle between evil and good as waged in the human heart.

"Watership Down" by Richard Adams. An unsentimental fantasy in which all the leads are rabbits. It makes the natural world seem magical without need of elves and fairies.

"In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. This true story of an American family in Berlin before World War II is vivid and chilling as it chronicles an entire society going mad in a span of only a few years.

A new book from Dean Koontz isn’t uncommon – Orange County’s best-selling author has long been a prolific writer – but the arrival on Tuesday of “Ashley Bell” does feel like more of an event than other recent novels from this master of modern suspense.

It’s the first novel he’s published since wrapping up the eight books in the Odd Thomas series this year. At 560 pages, “Ashley Bell” feels like a weighty book both literally and figuratively. And in setting the story almost entirely in Orange County, it’s a return to his home turf, too.

And given that Koontz and “Ashley Bell” are the next pick of the Register Book Club – he joins a community book event on Jan. 14 in Santa Ana– we decided to give him a call.

In the Q-and-A that follows, Koontz talks about “Ashley Bell,” its inspiration, his writing practices and the role that memory plays in this story as well as his work overall.

Q. From where did you draw inspiration for this story?

A. Often you cannot tell where the idea came from. You’re mystified. It appears in your head and you just go with it. In this case I can kind of pinpoint it. I have a friend who has brain cancer, a kind that only about 100 people a year get, and there’s really no cure.

I was answering a letter from him, and I was thinking, what about a story in which somebody had this? I made it Bibi Blair, who is the No. 1 character. What if she had this brain cancer and she recovered from it in a couple of days and it’s mystifying to everybody?

If I had survived something no one had survived, I would be asking myself why. The answer (in the book) is, “You were saved so you can save someone else.” And she starts on this quest to find out: Who is Ashley Bell and why is she in danger and how can I save her?

This idea hit me and I was as excited as a child, bouncing up and down in my chair.

Q. What was it like leaving Odd Thomas and his series behind to create Bibi and her brand-new story?

A. This was an extremely tricky thing to pull off and so it tests all your abilities and craftsmanship. So in a sense that’s daunting. But as always, if the character who is central to the story starts to work for you, if Bibi comes alive for you, within a day or two you’re into it and you’re not daunted anymore.

My publisher said, “I sort of fell in love with Bibi. She’s sort of a very fair, tough-minded, kick-butt kind of lady.” She’s a woman that reminds me a little of my mother and my wife, both strong women. She sort of has some of their qualities.

Q. Compared with the last Odd Thomas book, this one feels like a bigger, more expansive novel. Did you intentionally stretch out here and go for something that felt big?

A. I’ve done very large books before but I always try to make the pace of them equal the pace of the smaller novels. The story has to entertain. I think this will qualify for the word “epic” because of the (themes it explores).

Bibi believes in free will. She believes she makes her own life. And her parents are kind of, what will be will be. They’re fatalists. I kind of love them all. It’s that tension between, are our lives decided by fate or do we make our lives, that drives the book.

Q. This book seems to have a lot of Orange County in it – is it a return to your home turf?

A. This is entirely set in Orange County except for a few scenes where we cut away to (Bibi’s) fiancé. He’s a Navy Seal and he’s overseas on a black ops mission. But otherwise it’s all Orange County.

Q. Is it easier to write about Orange County than a new location, or more difficult, given your familiarity with it?

A. On the one side it’s easier because you don’t have to research, you know it so well. But secondly it’s a little challenging because I don’t like to write about things in ways I’ve seen written before. And if you’ve lived in a place the better part of your life, that becomes more of a challenge, because you fall into looking at them the way you’ve seen them before, and not like they were when encountered them for the very first time.

Q. You’ve said that “Ashley Bell” is a story about memory – how does memory play a part in its story and how does memory play a part in your life and your work as a writer?

A. The power of imagination, the power of books and the impact of memory and deception are all part of this story. Bibi has memories of certain things that happened in her childhood that are incomplete, and it’s in those memory holes that the answer to some of what’s happening in this book lies.

But it’s not only about faulty memory, it’s about deception and self-deception. I can’t go any further on that because I’ll give something away.

As a writer you’re always trying to use your life as best you can. Sometimes you don’t even know you’re using it and it has to be pointed out sometimes by your loving wife. I wrote a book once that was somewhat emotional for me to finish. I said, “I don’t know why this book is wracking me up,” and (my wife, Gerda) said, “Because the lead character is your mother.”

The Register Book Club has selected "Ashley Bell" as our new community read. Join the conversation as we discuss it at the Register Book Club's Facebook Group. Follow along on Twitter with #OCRBookClub.

Join us Jan. 14 when Koontz visits the Register for two events, at 3:30 and 7 p.m., to talk about the book. Tickets are $10 and available atdeankoontz.eventbrite.com. All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Canine Companions for Independence.

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